Twodayslater, onthefifteenthofJuly, animmensenumberofcarriageswerestandingoutsidetheSlobodaPalace.
, '-backedchairsatalargetableundertheportraitoftheEmperor, butmostofthegentrywerestrollingabouttheroom.
Allthesenobles, whomPierremeteverydayatthecluborintheirownhouses, wereinuniform—someinthatofCatherine'sday, othersinthatofEmperorPaul, othersagaininthenewuniformsofAlexander'stimeortheordinaryuniformofthenobility, andthegeneralcharacteristicofbeinginuniformimpartedsomethingstrangeandfantastictothesediverseandfamiliarpersonalities, , dimeyed, toothless, bald, sallow, andbloated, orgauntandwrinkled, , or, iftheywalkedaboutandtalked, , asonthefacesofthecrowdPetyahadseenintheSquare, therewasastrikingcontradiction: thegeneralexpectationofasolemnevent, andatthesametimetheeverydayinterestsinabostoncardparty, Peterthecook, ZinaidaDmitrievna'shealth, andsoon.
Pierrewastheretoo, buttonedupsinceearlymorninginanobleman'; thisextraordinarygatheringnotonlyofnoblesbutalsoofthemerchantclass—lesetatsgeneraux (States-General)—evokedinhimawholeseriesofideashehadlonglaidasidebutwhichweredeeplygraveninhissoul: 'sappeal—thatthesovereignwascomingtothecapitalforconsultationwithhispeople—, hestrolledaboutwatchingandlisteningtoconversations, butnowherefindinganyconfirmationoftheideasthatoccupiedhim.
